Invesco Ltd. Purchases 7,433 Shares of Lakeland Financial Corporation $LKFN

Key Points

• Invesco Ltd. increased its stake in Lakeland Financial Corporation by 8.4%, acquiring an additional 7,433 shares, bringing its total ownership to 95,617 shares valued at $5.68 million.
• Insider transactions include CFO Lisa M. O'Neill selling 2,500 shares and EVP Eric H. Ottinger selling 4,635 shares, both resulting in notable decreases in their ownership percentages.
• Lakeland Financial recently announced a quarterly dividend of $0.50, reflecting an annualized dividend of $2.00 with a yield of 2.9%.

Invesco Ltd. boosted its stake in Lakeland Financial Corporation (NASDAQ:LKFN - Free Report) by 8.4% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 95,617 shares of the financial services provider's stock after buying an additional 7,433 shares during the period. Invesco Ltd. owned 0.37% of Lakeland Financial worth $5,683,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Deutsche Bank AG boosted its holdings in shares of Lakeland Financial by 24.7% during the 1st quarter. Deutsche Bank AG now owns 28,497 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $1,694,000 after buying an additional 5,651 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its stake in shares of Lakeland Financial by 5.6% during the first quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 999,033 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $59,383,000 after purchasing an additional 52,753 shares in the last quarter. New Age Alpha Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of Lakeland Financial during the first quarter valued at approximately $1,509,000. Harbour Investments Inc. boosted its position in shares of Lakeland Financial by 16.4% in the 1st quarter. Harbour Investments Inc. now owns 1,990 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $118,000 after purchasing an additional 281 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Arkadios Wealth Advisors purchased a new stake in shares of Lakeland Financial in the 1st quarter worth approximately $234,000. 81.15% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Lakeland Financial Trading Down 1.1%

NASDAQ:LKFN traded down $0.75 during trading hours on Tuesday, reaching $67.70. The company had a trading volume of 12,700 shares, compared to its average volume of 169,341. The firm's 50 day moving average price is $64.27 and its 200-day moving average price is $61.16. The firm has a market cap of $1.73 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.45 and a beta of 0.64. Lakeland Financial Corporation has a 52 week low of $50.00 and a 52 week high of $78.61.

Lakeland Financial (NASDAQ:LKFN - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Friday, July 25th. The financial services provider reported $1.04 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $0.93 by $0.11. Lakeland Financial had a return on equity of 13.57% and a net margin of 22.55%.The firm had revenue of $63.36 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $67.02 million. During the same period last year, the business posted $0.87 EPS. On average, analysts forecast that Lakeland Financial Corporation will post 3.7 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Lakeland Financial Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, August 5th. Investors of record on Friday, July 25th were issued a $0.50 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, July 25th. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.0%. Lakeland Financial's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 54.50%.

Insider Activity at Lakeland Financial

In other Lakeland Financial news, CFO Lisa M. O'neill sold 2,500 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, July 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $66.72, for a total transaction of $166,800.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer directly owned 34,366 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $2,292,899.52. This represents a 6.78% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, EVP Eric H. Ottinger sold 4,635 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Monday, August 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $67.07, for a total transaction of $310,869.45. Following the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 32,282 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $2,165,153.74. The trade was a 12.56% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 7,435 shares of company stock valued at $497,769 over the last 90 days. 3.00% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms recently weighed in on LKFN. Hovde Group raised Lakeland Financial from a "market perform" rating to an "outperform" rating and set a $72.00 price objective for the company in a research report on Tuesday, May 6th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reiterated a "market perform" rating and issued a $68.00 price target (up previously from $65.00) on shares of Lakeland Financial in a research note on Monday, July 28th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating and one has given a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $70.00.

Lakeland Financial Profile

Lakeland Financial Corporation operates as the bank holding company for Lake City Bank that provides various banking products and services in the United States. The company accepts various deposit products, such as noninterest bearing, interest-bearing checking, savings, money market, NOW, and demand deposits.